


Bearing Children

by Drag0nst0rm



Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Accidental Baby Acquisition, First Age, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-07
Updated: 2019-03-07
Packaged: 2019-11-13 06:54:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18026894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drag0nst0rm/pseuds/Drag0nst0rm
Summary: Maglor isn't the only brother to look at a destroyed settlement and decide now was the time for some impromptu adoption.In Amrod and Amras's defense, in their case the settlement was destroyed before they got there.





	Bearing Children

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own the Silmarillion.
> 
> I wrote this for silveraspens, who requested Maedhros, Amrod, Amras, and dubious baby acquisition. She responded with some wonderful sketches, that you can see here: https://silmaspens.tumblr.com/post/183236365115/16-22-60-please-if-youre-still-taking

It had been a long time since Maedhros had ridden down to his youngest brothers’ lands.

Looking at them now, he wasn’t sure if it had been too long or not nearly long enough.

The camp around them bustled in the bright forest. It felt far cheerier and more full of life than his own fortress. He’d expected that after his last visit.

He just hadn’t expected ‘more full of life’ to include an _infant_ life.

Particularly one that Amrod was holding.

He looked between the twins, both of whom were looking at him with their best approximations of innocence. “Where in Arda did you get a baby?”

“The usual way, of course,” Amras said promptly.

Maedhros looked back down at the baby. He - or she - not only lacked either of the twins’ red hair, the babe also lacked their skin tone, eye color, or, in fact, even their species.

“Considering you’re holding a human baby, I am beginning to be concerned about just what you think the usual way is.” Maedhros was beginning to get a headache. “It’s bad enough that the Enemy has somehow convinced some among the Edain that we steal children without actually making it _true._ ”

“We didn’t steal him!” Amrod said indignantly. “We rescued him.”

Decades of childhood antics meant Maedhros was doubtful.

“There are a few villages of Men in the forest,” Amras explained. “We ran across one we hadn’t had occasion to before when we were patrolling for orcs.”

Amrod had grown grim. “Unfortunately, the orcs had got there first. They’d put up an excellent fight, but there wasn’t a soul left alive in the village when we got there.”

“Except for him,” Maedhros realized, nodding at the happily babbling babe.

“He wasn’t technically in the village, actually,” Amrod said. “See, the thing was, there weren’t just dead Men and dead orcs in the village. There were also a truly alarming amount of dead bears.”

Maedhros blinked. “Bears?”

Amras took up the story again. “We assumed at first that the Enemy had found some way to corrupt or control them.”

A natural thought. And a horrifying one. But … “At first?”

“Then we checked the bodies,” Amrod said. “And they’d only attacked the orcs.’

“So the _Men_ have found some way to … control bears.” Maedhros wasn’t sure quite what to do with this information, but it seemed militarily relevant.

The twins looked at each other. “Not exactly,” they said in chorus.

“There was only one small set of tracks out of the village,” Amrod said. “They looked like they’d been made by a bear cub, so we followed them, and, well, there he was.” He bounced the baby in his arms.

Maedhros looked between the twins. “This is a prank,” he finally said.

Amras shook his head. “Not this time. Amrod, do the thing.”

Amrod obligingly crouched down so that he could set his young charge on the ground before he began to tickle the babe.

The baby shrieked with helpless laughter until tears were falling from his eyes.

At which point, he promptly turned into a bear.

A bear cub admittedly, but that didn’t keep Maedhros from springing back or his hand from flying to his sword.

Amrod, meanwhile, had started stroking the cub’s fur. In a few moment, he had popped back into a Mannish child.

Maedhros gaped.

“We’re going to keep him,” Amras announced proudly.

“Absolutely not,” Maedhros said automatically. He was too shocked to do anything but run on instinct right now, and absolutely not was usually a good instinct to go on with any plan one of his brothers presented. His scrambled mind managed to produce a reason a half moment later. “He needs to be with his own kind.”

“I’m not sure there’s any of his own kind left,” Amrod said doubtfully. “I’ve only ever seen that one village do that. Or do you think all Men can, and they’ve been keeping it a secret?”

Maedhros had no idea, but he very much intended to find out. Perhaps Finrod would know.

“At the very least, we’re keeping him until we find his people,” Amras said. “And until then, he’ll need a name.”

As the child was too young to articulate whatever name he’d already received, Maedhros had to concede that this plan at least was only reasonable.

“We’re going to call him Brôgadan,” Amrod said brightly.

As they’d been speaking in Quenya, seeing as there were no Sindar around to be offended, it took Maedhros a moment to switch tracks and translate this. Once he did - 

“You are not naming him bear-man.”

“I don’t see how it’s worse than some of our’s,” Amras grumbled. 

Which was admittedly true, but still no reason to inflict it on the next generation.

**Author's Note:**

> Look, Beorn's ancestors had to come from somewhere. Why not here?


End file.
